CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weeden is one of the most intriguing prospects in the NFL draft, especially for a team that admitted to a love affair with Robert Griffin III and then quickly announced its intention to renew vows with Colt McCoy.

Using the draft as the main source of supporting your quarterback is sound strategy, providing you believe you have the right quarterback. As Plan A, it's foolproof. As Plan B, meh. Just OK. Less than that if it prevents the Browns from drafting a quarterback who projects as a significant upgrade.

Those who keep making the argument that McCoy didn't have weapons around him last year should realize it's not much of an argument. Of course, he didn't.

And? What's the second part of that sentence?

Lacking a support system doesn't mean he'd be a franchise quarterback with one. Improved? You'd certainly hope so. But it's not as if -- "presto" -- he goes from Eric Zeier to Drew Brees. If it were that simple, a lot more teams would be targeting undersized, third-rounders as the answer.

Every quarterback coming into the NFL is evaluated and projected based on his skills, not on his support system in college. In McCoy, the personnel people saw a tough-skinned winner but nowhere near a first-round talent. He's shown his toughness, hasn't won for some reasons out of his control, but overall has played like a third or fourth rounder.

If the Browns saw franchise quarterback tools with McCoy, they could take playmakers at No. 4 and No. 22, then bolster the right tackle spot at No. 37, and not think twice about it. But if Weeden is there at No. 22, or certainly at No. 37, he can't be easily ignored despite being 28.

(This is the interactive portion of today's column where you get to say the Browns should wait until next year to grab USC's Matt Barkley -- as if that would be any easier than acquiring RGIII; and where I remind you that if they're bad enough through November to project at the top of the draft again next year, we should all hope the Mayans are right. If only so we can rebuild this mess from the ground up starting with single-cell organisms. What's another 10 million years or so when you've been waiting since 1964?)

Weeden is tall, accurate, strong-armed. He's not mobile or -- you may have heard -- abundantly youthful. His looks and birth certificate qualify him not as the boy next door, but as the grown man next door. His years as a pitcher in the minor leagues significantly delayed his NFL career. He'll be 29 in October, which is a legitimate concern, but not a deal-breaker.

Every team wants first-rounders to give them five to 10 years of excellence, depending on position. Understandable. Matt Kalil could give the Browns 10 years at tackle, too, but that's not enough of a factor to make him the center piece of the draft, or -- in my estimation -- make right tackle a priority at No. 22 either.

If the Browns get five or six great years out of Trent Richardson at No. 4, find a receiver with home run ability and end up with Brandon Weeden as their starting quarterback from age 29-35, anybody going to argue that they blew the 2012 draft because it didn't have enough staying power?

For whatever it's worth, Oklahoma State with Weeden at quarterback beat Baylor with Griffin III, Stanford with Andrew Luck and Ryan Tannehill's Texas A&M Aggies. Weeden threw eight touchdown passes and one interception in those matchups.

The more pertinent fact: Luck and RGIII are gone. Tannehill is overpriced. Weeden's age, if anything, deflates his value and that could work in the Browns' favor. They're in a great position with the number of picks they have and the amount of quarterback expertise they have on staff to be bold in this draft and find a better answer than they currently employ.

In a recent conference call, ESPN's Jon Gruden said he looked at the top 20 throws of the top quarterbacks in the draft.

"You walk away and you say Brandon Weeden makes the most difficult throws in college football," Gruden told reporters. "He has a tremendous arm and great anticipation ... it's a pleasure to watch him throw the football."

With McCoy, the Browns mostly respect his toughness and work ethic. But at some point, the conversation at quarterback needs to turn to tangibles.

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